Abel finally made it to the coast just before sundown. bởi the time he'd used the restroom and grabbed a bite to eat at the local burger joint, the dusk was so dark that stars were already pricking the night sky.

Cece had đã đưa ý kiến she'd meet him at the beach, and he hoped he wasn't too late; she'd sounded excited on the phone, which he'd interpreted as eagerness. Ditching work at the first opportunity, Abel had jumped in his car and started driving. Frustrated at not finding her, Abel chided himself for his idiotic rush to meet his ex-girlfriend as he redialed her number...no response, not even voicemail. Getting chilly, he wished he'd brought a áo khoác as he walked along the edge of the surf. It was getting dark quickly, the crowds leaving for clubs, but as he walked he noticed a faint glimmering on the whitecaps, a ghostly luminescence that kept drawing his eye.

Just then, Abel thought he heard the footsteps of someone in the wet sand close behind him, but when he turned, there was no one. Kneeling on the sand, it looked almost as if there were a một giây set of footprints in the sand, but then a wave came and swallowed them as if they'd never been.

"My love..." Cece's voice called to him, as if from a great distance, "Abel, darling, come to me!" Needing no further encouragement, Abel followed her voice down the strand to the boardwalk. Of course she would try to play a trick on him, Abel thought, relieved; Cece loved to play games like that. Quickly he hurried, cursing the soft sucking sand that clung to his shoes and slowed down his headlong rush to meet his lover. Reaching the lights and bustle of the boardwalk at last, Abel saw no sight of Cece. Softly the sighing call was repeated: "My love, my darling, come to me!" Turning in that direction, Abel descended the steps to the cavernous không gian amongst the pilings, the darkness absolute after the bright lights of the attractions above. Under the boardwalk, he could hear something dripping nearby. Voices greeted him: "My love! You've come at last!" "My darling - we've been waiting so long!"
What happened in the darkness was unclear, unseen, but soon the voices resumed their calls "Come to me...Come to me!".